116 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [eth ann. as 



Tlu'V iiiii.le the piston I rum a piece uf ArruJanchicr alnifoUd or of 

 tlie youiif: {.'lowth of Quercus macrocarpa. The fibrous inner bark 

 of ilmux anurhima and of U. fulva wag used for poiigun wads. 

 In the nortli, wliere Betuht papyrifera is found, its papery bark was 

 clu'wod to a pulp and used for this purpose, while on the western 

 prairie tiie tops of Arteini^iu were chewed and so used. 

 Sv-Mi-iionicAHPOS svMPHORiCAHPOs (L.) MacM. Coral Berry, and S. 

 OIL iDE.N TALIS Hook. AVolf Berry, Buck Brush. 

 Zuzceha-ta-wote sapsapa (Dakota); black snake food {zu-zecTui, 

 snake: wofe, food; ta, genitive sign; .sapsapa, reduplication of 

 siipii, black ). 

 I"«hto(/uK(i-hl (Onudia-Ponca), eye-lotion plant {/".shta, eye). 

 The leaves were steeped to nuike an infusion used for weak or 

 inflamed eyes. 



CVCUUHITACKAE 



Pki'o FoETUUssiMA (11. B. K.) Brittou. Wild (Jourd. (PI. 27, a.) 



^Yayunm" ptzhuta ( Dakota ) , pumpkin medicine ( iraguiniV\ pump- 

 kin; pczkuta, medicine). 



Xiashifja iiuika" (Omaha-Ponca), human-being medicine {niashiga, 

 human being; maka", medicine). They say it is male {niashiga 

 maka" nuya) and female {iMish-tga nuika" miga). 



This is one of the plants considered to possess special mystic 

 properties. I'eople weie afraid to dig it or handle it unauthorized. 

 Tiie i)roperly constituted authorities might dig it, being careful to 

 make the prescribed offering of tobacco to the spirit of the plant, 

 accompanied by the proper prayers, and using extreme care not to 

 wound the root in removing it from the earth. A man of my ac- 

 quaintance in the Omaha tribe essayed to take up a root of this plant 

 and in doing so cut the side of the root. Not long afterward one of 

 his children fell, injuring its side so that death ensued, which was 

 ascribed by the tribe to the wounding of the root by the father. 



This plant is one which is held in particularly high esteem by all 

 the tribes as a medicinal agent. As its range is restricted to the 

 drier parts of the (ireat Plains, it happens that since the tribes are 

 confined to reservations they can not get it as easily as they did 

 in old times. This explains why, when I have exhibited specimens 

 of the root in seeking information, the Indians have asked for it. 

 While they fear to dig it themselves, after I have assumed the risk 

 of so doing they are willing to profit by my temerity; or it may be 

 that the white man is not held to account by the Higher Powers 

 of the Indian's world. 



Tiie root is used medicinally according to the doctrine of signa- 

 tures, simulating, it is believed, the form of the human body, and 



